Paying a bill by sending a chat message sounds simple. Making an AI do it safely is not. Xara, a Nigerian fintech founded by Sulaiman Adewale, lets people send money, buy airtime and data, pay bills and track spending on WhatsApp. Users can type, send a voice note or share a photo, for example of an account number. According to Technext, Xara says it has processed more than ₦22.6 billion in transactions. That is roughly $17 million at about ₦1,330 to the dollar, an approximate rate. These numbers come from the company and have not been audited.
The growth story has several moving parts. Techpoint Africa reported in April that Xara had about 45,000 users and ₦8 billion in transactions after ten months. Technext says it passed ₦10 billion in June 2026, with 50,000 active users in its first year. In August, Flutterwave cited more than 55,000 users and businesses. These figures do not match exactly. “Users,” “active users” and “users and businesses” are different things, and none of the reports define active. If ₦22.6 billion is correct, it means about ₦12.6 billion moved in the months after June. That is much faster than the earlier pace of roughly ₦4 billion every three months. The reports do not say what drove the jump, and a larger number of repeat or high-value transfers could explain it. Ask the company for the date of the figure and how it counts a transaction.
The hardest problem is not language. Adewale says a request as short as “card” can mean several things, so the team has rebuilt Xara more than three times. The assistant now has safeguards that help it decide whether to act, ask a question or wait. Earlier, he told Techpoint that large language models are unstable and unpredictable, and that making them reliable enough for money took major effort. Xara has not shared test results, error rates or how often it asks for confirmation. Other safeguards are reported. Transactions need a four-digit PIN. The service avoids one-time passwords and says it follows strict identity checks. Technext reports that general chat context is deleted after two hours, while saved beneficiaries are kept. The company says it has had no security breach, which we could not verify.
Xara does not hold customer money itself. Reports show its banking partners have changed. A 2025 TechCabal review named 9 Payment Service Bank. In April, Techpoint said wallets came through Rubies Microfinance Bank, airtime through Kuda, and PalmPay was also a partner. In August, Xara announced a partnership with Flutterwave to use its payment rails and microfinance bank services from one integration. Xara said it had used several providers, which caused problems with reliability and reconciliation. No report names a licence held by Xara itself. The microfinance bank licence belongs to Flutterwave, according to coverage of that deal. Xara has said it may seek its own licences and could one day become an AI-powered neobank, but that is a plan, not an approval.
Next comes Xara Business. It is meant to help merchants manage payments, invoices and sales through WhatsApp, and the August announcement mentions bulk transfers, product catalogues and a dashboard. Technext says businesses testing it handle about ₦6 million a day, which is a company claim from a test group. Revenue today comes from transaction fees and commissions on airtime and data sales, and the company plans subscriptions and a “Pay with Xara” checkout. Expansion plans include Ghana, Zambia and the United Arab Emirates, with no dates given. The company also depends on WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta. Adewale says Xara will stay on the platform as long as it serves customers well.
Would you trust an AI on WhatsApp with your money? The honest answer depends on controls, not on the AI. Before using any chat-based money tool, check which licensed bank holds your funds, whether you can set transfer limits, whether it shows the recipient’s name before sending, and how you can reverse a mistake or reach a person. Keep your PIN private and avoid linking large balances until a service has a longer track record. For founders, the lesson is that a conversational interface hides complexity but does not remove it. The next signals to watch are an audited volume figure, a named licence, clear error and refund policies, and the Xara Business launch.
Sources: Technext on Xara; Techpoint Africa on Xara’s founder and traction; TechAfrica News on the Flutterwave partnership; Startup Researcher on the Flutterwave partnership; TechCabal on Xara’s 2025 launch.
Filed under Ecosystem Intel · Regional: West Africa
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